As an ELCA pastor and theologian serving in an academic context, I am called not only to serve the people with whom I work in Mexico but the ELCA and the Christian Church at large. I consider that my role as missionary is not only to teach but to learn, both from my students and colleagues as well as from the academic research I do as a professor of theology.  For me, Christian theology and Christian mission are intimately and inseparably linked. As I often tell my students, bad theology brings pain and suffering into people's lives; in contrast, good theology gives wholeness and well-being to people. Unfortunately, in the Mexican context, there is quite a bit of bad theology: theology that leads to oppression, exclusion, and marginalization of people both in the church and the Mexican social context; theology that directly or indirectly promotes and justifies social inequality and economic oppression; theology that leads to various types of abuse and violence in the home, the work place, and other social contexts. Such theologies need to be replaced with theologies that liberate and empower people through the proclamation of the gospel, rightly understood. That is why I consider the theological task so important, since I am convinced that the problems and challenges that we face in our churches and our world today can only be addressed adequately on the basis of solid Christian theologies that promote God's will for the wholeness of all people and all creation. I have attached below a couple of presentations that I gave several years ago on the relation between Lutheran theology and the mission of the church, as well as a presentation I gave in 2001 at a meeting of the Board of the ELCA Division for Global Mission. For those interested in reading more of my theological work, my publications in English are listed on a separate page, as are some of my English sermons. For some of the theological work that I have done in Spanish, see the Spanish section of my website. |
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THEOLOGICAL WORK |